A/N: Thank you to all of my reviewers! To my guest reviewer… I am actually working on trying to finish a novel and get published. XD. I am excited you like my work so much and it is a huge compliment to me! Well it looks like everyone is of the same mindset about the destruction of Kameko. She had gotten away with this behavior for so long now, she doesn't think she will be caught, but she never went up against the Host Club or the Shadow King. Enjoy!

PS… Don't forget about the poll. It is still up and so far Kyoya is in the lead. Looks like most people want to see our resident Shadow King running around like a crazy person in his underwear. LOL.

Chapter 39 – Operation: Take Down Kameko

Monday morning came quickly and as previously agreed upon Kyoya was waiting with the editor for Kameko to appear. The other hosts were waiting in a room across the hall and would enter the newspaper room after the female reporter made her appearance. She had no clue what was about to befall her or the harsh reality she was about to face.

"She still does not know that you changed the article, or what this meeting is about?" Kyoya asked the editor.

Shaking his head, Ukyou answered, "No, she does not. I have made sure she was purposely kept in the dark about everything. This will be a surprise ambush."

Pushing up his glasses, Kyoya smirked, "Excellent."

It was only a few minutes later that Kameko rushed into the newspaper room and found her editor with Kyoya Ootori, "Oh I'm sorry, was I interrupting something?" She was finding it rather odd that she kept running into Kyoya in this particular room when as far as she knew, the Host Club didn't much like the newspaper club very much.

"No, you are not. Please shut the door and we can get on with this meeting. Ootori-san will be present during this… talk," the editor smiled.

Kameko suddenly felt very nervous about being in that room with those two men, "Did something happen?" Could Kyoya have found out about her article before it was published? Could he be here to stop it? Well, if that was the case, it was too late because the newspaper was already back from the printers.

The glare of the light caught the Host Club's vice president's glasses, "Well, I was given the opportunity to read the article you submitted to the newspaper and I must say it was some piece of work."

"Thank you," she said and narrowed her eyes on the bespectacled teen. She knew it had not been a real compliment; there was something about the way he said that which made her want to cringe.

"You're welcome," Kyoya grinned and as if on cue, the other members of the Host Club entered the room. "As I was saying, that was an interesting article, but it was slander and libelous. Haruhi, as well as the Host Club, could sue you for printing false information."

Swallowing hard, Kameko shook her head, "That… that isn't true! Everything in that article is accurate and I have every right to write about how horrible Haruhi really is! I got the information from you!"

"You mean that black folder which held proprietary information in it? It wasn't real. In fact, it was nothing more than a prop for a play we are doing in the Host Club. If it had been real, then you would be in even more trouble because that is stealing information. Tell me, are you into espionage as well as lying? Even if we put aside the theft of data, we cannot ignore the other crimes you committed recently; however, this isn't the first time you have done something like this, is it? You have ruined countless lives with your lies, and what makes it worse is that you try to take people down on purpose. You are nothing but a bully. You hate anyone that gets close to Satoshi Morinozuka, and when you find someone getting close to them, you do what you can to print fallacies about them ruining their reputation and forcing them to either leave school or become an outcast. You thought you could get away with it for Haruhi, but you were wrong. You picked the wrong people to attack because you see, if you attack one of us, you attack all of us," Kyoya declared.

"No! I checked the information! I heard things with my ears!" The reporter tried to defend herself.

The Shadow King chuckled maliciously, "You heard things, but you assumed you knew what was going on. Your article was nothing but falsehoods and deceit."

"No, Tamaki tell him that Haruhi is evil. He is blackmailing you and cheated to get into this school," Kameko tried to plead with her boyfriend.

Shaking his head, the blond president shifted his gaze to the floor unable to look at her any further. He was still heart broken, "I'm sorry, but I can't do that. Haruhi has done nothing but be a good friend to everyone in the Host Club and to the other students of this school. You are the one that is nothing but a liar and evil. You are the one that cheats people out of a normal school life at Ouran."

"That isn't true. Don't you love me? Don't you believe me?" She begged and when he lifted his head, she could see the hurt and anger in his eyes. What had happened?

"He knows," Hikaru fumed. He had never wanted to hit another girl more than he wanted to hit Kameko at that moment.

Kaoru added, "He knows about the article and the love potion."

"You're not going to get away with it," the twins proclaimed simultaneously.

"Wh-what do you m-mean?" Kameko stammered.

Hunny took a step forward, "You tried to hurt Haru-Chan and Tama-Chan."

"He may be an idiot, but no one deserves what you did to him; and you also tried to hurt my girlfriend?" Chika snarled as he took a menacing step forward forcing Kameko to take a step backwards away from him.

"GIRLFRIEND?" The reporter yelled.

Chuckling, Kyoya sneered as he pushed up his glasses, "Yes, didn't you know? If you would have really researched everything and not just tried to defame an innocent student like you have done time and time again, you would have found out that Haruhi Fujioka has no ties to the Yakuza, did not cheat on her tests to get into Ouran, could not possibly blackmail anyone, and is actually a girl. And she has been dating Yasuchika Haninozuka for almost a year."

Mind reeling from the information she just learned, Kameko didn't want to believe it, "No, it can't be."

"Oh it is very much true," Chika took another step forward before he felt someone grab his arm. Looking to his side, he saw his girlfriend holding him back, "Haruhi?"

Haruhi narrowed her eyes and shook her head before addressing Kameko, "You have hurt my friends, tried to attack me, wanted to spread rumors, and hurt other people in your quest for superiority and to win Satoshi, but you failed. Take a look for yourself, my id card will show you that they are not lying." She flung the school identification card at the reporter and watched as the other girl's eyes grew as she picked it up to inspect it.

Feeling cornered and afraid, Kameko tried to turn to another person she thought would help her, "Satoshi, don't believe anything they say.
You have to help me."

"Help you?" Satoshi scoffed, "I want nothing to do with you."

"Ukyou-senpai?" She turned to her editor.

The editor shook his head and spoke firmly, "Last year we worked hard to turn this newspaper around and only print the facts instead of the gossip rag that it had turned into. It took hard work to change the reputation we had garnered and we want to keep it honest. In fact, the Host Club helped to turn the tide with a few spoken words. I don't say that to defend them, if they did something wrong, we would print it, but they haven't. You tried to taint that by writing lies about a fellow student, and for what, so that you could keep Satoshi Morinozuka all to yourself? That is a stalker and a liar, and I will not allow you to besmirch my paper with your need for revenge and jealousy!"

Laughing, Kameko probed, "Isn't it too late. The paper went to press last week and you told me that my article on Haruhi was on the front page."

"No, you assumed it was your article. I only said it was an article on Haruhi," the editor stated.

"And I knew about everything you did well before you turned in the article. In fact, the article was replaced by an interview Ukyou-san conducted with Haruhi and Yasuchika with the full backing of the Host Club. I am sure the fact that your mother is a lawyer, you know that Haruhi could sue you for what you wrote about her and the lies you tried to spread. In fact, I am sure you parents are not fully aware of your nefarious writing since you were in middle school, but I have corrected all of that. I have sent a full report to your mother explaining in great detail the slander you tried to spread. If you are thinking of trying to seek revenge on Haruhi or the other members of the club, you should know that our reach far exceeds yours and you will not be able to get far. You should also know that with one phone call, we can destroy your family, but we will not do that because we are not vindictive like you. You have a lot to learn, and from this day forward, you are banned from the Host Club. If you try to spread more falsehoods about Haruhi or anyone else in this school, and not just our friends, the reason for the termination of your membership will be made public," Kyoya threatened.

"You are also no longer part of the newspaper staff. I will not have my paper tainted by you," Ukyou sneered.

Kyoya approached her and snatched Haruhi's id from her, "You will never again spread your special type of news reporting. As we speak the newspapers are selling and everyone is learning the truth about Haruhi. You have no power here."

She could feel her world spinning out of control. Everything she had done and everyone she hurt appeared and she could see them glaring at her, hear their taunting words. Clenching her hands into fists, Kameko screamed, "NO! You can't do this to me!" She flew at the closest person to her and Kyoya easily dodged her attack without laying a hand on her body, and her momentum sent hurdling to the floor. When she looked up, her face was red and she had carpet burn on her forehead. Crying, she shook her head, "You can't do this to me. I am Kameko Suzuki, star reporter!"

"You did it to yourself," Mori told her softly.

"Taka-bro is right! You did this to yourself and you have no one else to blame! I could never like someone like you," Satoshi glared disgusted by what she had done to the people in his life.

Flinching, Kameko looked down at her lap. How had it all fallen down around her? She thought for sure she would finally win her prince charming and have Tamaki… no Satoshi by her side. As she looked up, she could see the hate and the hurt in both of their eyes and knew she had lost not only in her career, but also her love life.

"You messed with the wrong group Kameko. You attacked a personal friend of some of the most powerful families in Japan, and she also happened to be dating one of the sons of those families. You tried to take her down as well as the reputation of the Ouran High School Host Club and I cannot allow you to do either one of those. When you attacked Haruhi, you attacked a member of our family. Maybe next time, you will think better about attacking someone just because of who they associate with. Your lies end here and today," Kyoya declared as he walked towards his friends.

Tamaki looked at his best friend and gave him a small smile, "Kyoya's right. We are a family and we stick by each other, support each other." He sounded down and out, and he was hurt, but he wouldn't let anyone destroy what he and his friends worked so hard to bring together. This girl was poison and it was best she was gone now. He cannot allow someone to hurt his little girl.

"That's right senpai," Haruhi grinned. Her friend was still in pain, but he wasn't alone and never would be.

Turning around to glance at Kameko, Kyoya added, "As you can see, you might have tried to come between us and injure our group, but you failed. I say that because if you try to attack one of us, you attack all of us. No one will ever be successful at such a plan. Maybe you need to find out what it really means to have friends because if this is your idea of friendship, you have a long way to go." He faced his friends again, "Now, for the rest of you, I suggest we head out and face the crowds."

"Together mommy?" Tamaki questioned.

Kyoya sighed, pushing up his glasses. He really hated that nick name, but he would deal with it for his best friend... for now, "Of course daddy. That is the only way." Before he left, he bowed to the editor, "Thank you again for your help Ukyou-san."

"Thank you for the opportunity to interview them. Your group has the support of the newspaper club," Ukyou replied and returned the bow. As soon as the door was shut, he gazed at Kameko, "Here is a box with your things. You need to leave; our club has no need for someone like you."

Dejected, rejected, and feeling hopelessly lost, Kameko stood and took the box before leaving the room. Where had she gone wrong? What happened? As she neared the cafeteria, she could see a large crowd gathered together and knew that the Host Club was in the middle of it. Would the other students be able to accept Haruhi? Kameko was still trying to wrap her head around the fact she had it so wrong herself... Haruhi was a girl and she was dating Chika. Did this mean that she was going to take this slap in the face lying down and move on? She wasn't sure yet. There were a lot of things she needed to think about.

A/N: Do you think she has learned her lesson? I have had two requests to put in a third installment in this series, and I am undecided if I will do that since I don't want to repeat some of the same assumptions and have some other things in the pipeline, but I will not leave you hanging and you will know what happens after school. I promise. I will say though that this is one of my fave series to work on because, as I have said before, anything goes. The crazier the assumptions the better. I still have a few left to write in the last few chapters.